Re: [stella] OT: Astrocade

I'm always game for a new challenge, but I would need to wrap up at least
a few of my current projects before attacking anything Bally related.
Perhaps if we (Afterlife) can get the AI Studio done I can have a Bally
module added to it to try and spur the homebrew community on. We shall have
to wait and see. What are its specs like?

Christopher Rydberg
solitaire0@xxxxxxxxxxx
afterlife.0catch.com

I've always been curious about the Bally Astrocade. It's a really
interesting system, and it was there that the first ever commercial
homebrews were written (in Bally Basic).

Adam Trionfo, Lance Squire, and Ward Shrake, has been doing the digital
archaeology thing for the Bally system for a while now. That's great, as
far as preserving the past goes, but I was wondering whether there might be
a potential for new games and hardware to be released for the unit.

Ward and I disagree as to the odds of a homebrew phenomenon like what we
have here or on rec.games.vectrex happening for the Astrocade based on its
original failure in the marketplace. I think it's a real chicken and the
egg situation where classic gamers might get more into the Astrocade if
they saw signs of life, which homebrew releases do.

Out of everyone here, how many would be interested in writing a new game
for the Astrocade?

If you aren't, what do you think would have to happen on that platform to
change your mind? Do you need a Cuttle Cart for the Astrocade? A better
emulator? Modernized SDK?

There weren't a lot of games written for it, so it's really virgin
territory for homebrewers to help fill in the gaps.